4 1Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for
the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land,
because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the
land. 2By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing,
and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.
3Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that
dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and
with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be
taken away. 4Yet let no man strive, nor reprove another:
for thy people are as they that strive with the priest. 5Therefore
shalt thou fall in the day, and the prophet also shall fall with
thee in the night, and I will destroy thy mother.

6My
people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast
rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no
priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will
also forget thy children. 7As they were increased, so
they sinned against me: therefore will I change their glory into
shame. 8They eat up the sin of my people, and they set
their heart on their iniquity. 9And there shall be, like
people, like priest: and I will punish them for their ways, and
reward them their doings. 10For they shall eat, and not
have enough: they shall commit whoredom, and shall not increase:
because they have left off to take heed to the LORD. 11Whoredom
and wine and new wine take away the heart.

12My people
ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them:
for the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err, and they have
gone a whoring from under their God. 13They sacrifice
upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills,
under oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof is good:
therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom, and your spouses
shall commit adultery. 14I will not punish your daughters
when they commit whoredom, nor your spouses when they commit
adultery: for themselves are separated with whores, and they
sacrifice with harlots: therefore the people that doth not
understand shall fall.

15Though thou, Israel, play the
harlot, yet let not Judah offend; and come not ye unto Gilgal,
neither go ye up to Bethaven, nor swear, The LORD liveth. 16For
Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer: now the LORD will feed
them as a lamb in a large place. 17Ephraim is joined to
idols: let him alone. 18Their drink is sour: they have
committed whoredom continually: her rulers with shame do love, Give
ye. 19The wind hath bound her up in her wings, and they
shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices.

5 1Hear ye
this, O priests; and hearken, ye house of Israel; and give ye ear, O
house of the king; for judgment is toward you, because ye have been
a snare on Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor. 2And the
revolters are profound to make slaughter, though I have been a
rebuker of them all. 3I know Ephraim, and Israel is not
hid from me: for now, O Ephraim, thou committest whoredom, and
Israel is defiled. 4They will not frame their doings to
turn unto their God: for the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of
them, and they have not known the LORD. 5And the pride of
Israel doth testify to his face: therefore shall Israel and Ephraim
fall in their iniquity: Judah also shall fall with them. 6They
shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the LORD;
but they shall not find him; he hath withdrawn himself from them.
7They have dealt treacherously against the LORD: for they
have begotten strange children: now shall a month devour them with
their portions. 8Blow ye the cornet in Gibeah, and the
trumpet in Ramah: cry aloud at Bethaven, after thee, O Benjamin.
9Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke: among
the tribes of Israel have I made known that which shall surely be.
10The princes of Judah were like them that remove the
bound: therefore I will pour out my wrath upon them like water.
11Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment, because he
willingly walked after the commandment. 12Therefore will
I be unto Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as
rottenness. 13When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah
saw his wound, then went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to king
Jareb: yet could he not heal you, nor cure you of your wound.
14For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to
the house of Judah: I, even I, will tear and go away; I will take
away, and none shall rescue him.

15I will go and return
to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face:
in their affliction they will seek me early.

6 1Come, and
let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us;
he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. 2After two days
will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we
shall live in his sight. 3Then shall we know, if we
follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the
morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and
former rain unto the earth.

4O Ephraim, what shall I do
unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is
as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away. 5Therefore
have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of
my mouth: and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth.
6For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of
God more than burnt offerings. 7But they like men have
transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously
against me. 8Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity,
and is polluted with blood. 9And as troops of robbers
wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way by
consent: for they commit lewdness. 10I have seen an
horrible thing in the house of Israel: there is the whoredom of
Ephraim, Israel is defiled. 11Also, O Judah, he hath set
an harvest for thee, when I returned the captivity of my people.

7 1When I
would have healed Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim was
discovered, and the wickedness of Samaria: for they commit
falsehood; and the thief cometh in, and the troop of robbers
spoileth without. 2And they consider not in their hearts
that I remember all their wickedness: now their own doings have
beset them about; they are before my face. 3They make the
king glad with their wickedness, and the princes with their lies.
4They are all adulterers, as an oven heated by the baker,
who ceaseth from raising after he hath kneaded the dough, until it
be leavened. 5In the day of our king the princes have
made him sick with bottles of wine; he stretched out his hand with
scorners. 6For they have made ready their heart like an
oven, whiles they lie in wait: their baker sleepeth all the night;
in the morning it burneth as a flaming fire. 7They are
all hot as an oven, and have devoured their judges; all their kings
are fallen: there is none among them that calleth unto me. 8Ephraim,
he hath mixed himself among the people; Ephraim is a cake not
turned. 9Strangers have devoured his strength, and he
knoweth it not: yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he
knoweth not. 10And the pride of Israel testifieth to his
face: and they do not return to the LORD their God, nor seek him for
all this.

11Ephraim also is like a silly dove without
heart: they call to Egypt, they go to Assyria. 12When
they shall go, I will spread my net upon them; I will bring them
down as the fowls of the heaven; I will chastise them, as their
congregation hath heard. 13Woe unto them! for they have
fled from me: destruction unto them! because they have transgressed
against me: though I have redeemed them, yet they have spoken lies
against me. 14And they have not cried unto me with their
heart, when they howled upon their beds: they assemble themselves
for corn and wine, and they rebel against me. 15Though I
have bound and strengthened their arms, yet do they imagine mischief
against me. 16They return, but not to the most High: they
are like a deceitful bow: their princes shall fall by the sword for
the rage of their tongue: this shall be their derision in the land
of Egypt.